Military Bowl strikes deal with American Athletic Conference

Jul. 11, 2013 - 05:43PM
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NEW YORK — The American Athletic Conference and the Military Bowl have agreed to a six-year deal that starts in 2014 and will match the league against Atlantic Coast Conference.

A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press the Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to be the other league with a tie-in to the Military Bowl. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal with the ACC was still being completed.

ESPN.com first reported the deal with the ACC and the Military Bowl.

The Military Bowl is moving from RFK Stadium in Washington to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Md., this season, where it’s expected to make a permanent home.

Navy is slated to join the American, formerly known as the Big East, in 2015.

The American is still working on the rest of its bowl lineup. The league is trying to keep affiliations with the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., and the Beef’O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco has said the conference is in the process of putting together a new bowl game to be played in south Florida at Marlins Park in Miami.

The conference would also like to land at least one postseason game in Texas, with SMU and Houston set to join this season, along with Central Florida and Memphis.